AI's unbounded power hunger will make energy-poor countries poorer and weaker
NinaDSchick · x · 2026-09-14
Nina Schick argues that AI is converting energy into intelligence at industrial scale, but electricity demand forecasts never anticipated manufacturing non-biological intelligence this way.
Training is only the beginning: inference requires 24/7 power as intelligence does useful work across the economy, and demand for useful intelligence has no obvious ceiling while our ability to power it does. She frames this as a chain: Power Gap → Intelligence Gap → Sovereignty Gap.
Europe is critically exposed: Germany shut down its nuclear fleet, and Britain wants to be an AI superpower while its industries already struggle to afford electricity. Countries cannot be rich or powerful in the Intelligence Age without power.
Related event: Nina Schick: Power Gap Is an Intelligence Gap in the AI Era(4 posts)→
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